He's missing one very good technique that works for me. Decide that there is 1 thing, and only 1 thing, that you want to get done today. Ideally it should be s

He's missing one very good technique that works for me. Decide that there is 1 thing, and only 1 thing, that you want to get done today. Ideally it should be something that can be accomplished in less than 30 minutes. Bonus if it can be done in less than 10. Do it. Maybe you need 20 minutes to get started, maybe you need an hour. Maybe you just can't bring yourself to do it. Give yourself 5 minutes to wallow in the emotion of not wanting to. Take a deep breath, and then proceed to do the thing. This may not work if the 1 thing is deceptively complicated or fractal. So take care that the thing is actually actionable. Yak shaving can help to get you out of a lazy spiral, but it has a strong tendency to lead to further demoralization. When you have accomplished the 1 thing. You are done. You are done for the day. Don't cheat. Don't make this 1 thing inconsequential, like making a list, then crossing off the first task of making the list. Sometimes the list is the most important thing to get done, so that can be ok, but you know when it's not. The thing should be something that brings you closer to something better. A better future for yourself, even if the better future is no longer having to think about the task. Since you are now done for the day... you can stop. Chances are you won't want to. Chances are, after a short break, you can repeat the process. Now, one caveat. If this is successful, you must stop early for the day. This is important, because, there is a good chance that there is a reason you're in a lazy spiral. It's probably because you are overworked. People greatly underestimate the amount of calories the brain burns. They also greatly underestimate the amount of time neuronal reuptake requires for hard tasks. You need rest, and the "I don't wannas" are an emotional protection for your brain. The problem is, this technique can be so effective for some people, that you just keep going long past when you should stop. If you do that you are setting yourself up for failure tomorrow, where you will likely be similarly mentally tired. He does mention the reset in the article. A new day is a chance to break the cycle. This is also fine advice, since there's a good chance you may just need a proper mental break day. What I like about my technique, is that often there is something that is high on a list of things that need to be done to allow for a project or life goal to continue to make progress. It will continue to weigh on you and drain you mentally if you don't give it some attention. By making some small progress, it's much easier to proceed to actually allow yourself to properly rest.